


In Need of a Vase

by LacunaChronicles (BabylonsFall)



Category: The Wayhaven Chronicles (Interactive Fiction)
Genre: Flowers, Fluff, M/M, briefest brush with angst possible, minor book 3 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:15:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29216286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabylonsFall/pseuds/LacunaChronicles
Summary: Dex needs a break. He gets a Nate at his door instead with a surprise. And you know what? That's so much better.
Relationships: Male Detective/Nathaniel "Nate" Sewell
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	In Need of a Vase

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted an excuse to write these two being soft. That's it.

Dex knew he should probably be sleeping. His one day off for the next week was tomorrow, and if he was going to get any type of sleep in the next long while, it would be tonight. And it was a true day off too - not expected at the station, even if he was technically on call like always, and with no movement on the current case, no reason to stop by the warehouse either.

But, instead of taking advantage of the looming freedom, he was instead, here, sitting at the bar to his kitchen, eyeing the bottle of jack that he’d gotten as a promotion gift from the volunteers, and debating the merits of a day off with a hangover.

It wasn’t a _pleasant_ idea, by any means. And he knew he’d regret it about halfway through the second drink, let alone the next morning.

But there was still something rather...alluring, about the idea of wasting the night away and just. Not caring. About the blood drive, and the hell he was going to catch from the mayor. About the case that was currently moving absolutely nowhere, and how helpless he was feeling in the face of that stagnation. About Rebecca. About the last several months of _everything_.

Just for a little while, caring about _nothing_.

And...that thought is what got him off the stool to go put the bottle away, back in the cupboard he’d put it in when he’d first gotten the damn thing.

This week may have sucked on so many levels, but the last thing he needed was _any_ thought like that. He should just throw the damn thing out, but he just couldn’t quite push past the guilt at the idea. It’d been a gift, and the volunteers had meant well.

The light knock at the door nearly has him dropping the damn thing.

He sneaks a quick look at his phone sitting on the bar. No notifications, so no one had called or texted. No emergency then. ...Maybe if he’s real quiet, whoever it was would just go away.

“Dex?” The voice is soft, muffled further through the door, but Dex can just about feel his shoulders sagging in relief. Setting the bottle on the counter, he slips over to open the door. Sure enough, there’s Nate, haloed in the cheap fluorescent light of the hallway and looking way too nice despite the sallow light.

He knows he himself doesn’t look nearly as put together - but he doesn’t know which is worse; the fact that he _knows_ it looks like he hasn’t slept in two days, or the clothes that practically scream he hasn’t left the apartment all day.

Can’t find it really in him to much care though, with Nate smiling like that at him - all soft and delighted. Dex crosses his arms over his chest, to keep them to himself until he figures out just what the vampire is doing around these parts around this time of night, leaning against the door frame. “And what’re you doing here?” he asks in a lazy drawl that doesn’t fool Nate for a second, if the way his smile ticks up crooked is anything to go by.

“Mm...I cannot just stop by?” Nate asks, tone light, almost teasing.

Dex raises an eyebrow, finally actually taking the man in. Completely relaxed, looking like he just walked off some runway somewhere, like normal...and his hands behind his back.

“Of course you can,” Dex mutters, only half-paying attention to what he’s saying, now curiously trying to peek around Nate’s shoulder. He sees Nate blink before his smile goes soft again out of the corner of his eyes as he leans away. Nate may only have an inch on him in height, but he knew how to use it well to his advantage.

“...You’re going to make me ask, aren’t you?” Dex finally says, leaning back against the doorframe in defeat. He can’t quite keep the smile off his face though, so he knows it’s not very convincing.

“Of course not.” And with a flourish that Dex isn’t entirely convinced is due to vampiric grace, rather than Nate just being Nate, he’s suddenly blinking at a flower.

Not just any flower. One perfect, simple, white rose.

“...For me?” He asks, not entirely sure what his voice is doing - it sounds soft and unsure even to his own ears. He’s not entirely sure what his face is doing either, but when he finally looks up to meet Nate’s eyes, he realizes it’s probably not great, since Nate now looks worried - only just, in the tight curve to his shoulder, and the shuttered look to his smile that wasn’t there only a breath earlier. And Dex can’t have that.

Careful of the flower, he reaches out to grip Nate’s jacket, pulling him in to press a soft kiss to his lips, relaxing when he feels Nate’s smile press into his again.

Breaking apart a moment later, he keeps a grip on the jacket to keep him close, turning back to the flower, taking it carefully with his free hand.

Nate’s voice is soft, falling lazily into the space between them, “You mentioned the gardens you loved and while I cannot give those to you, I hoped this might suffice for now.”

Dex twirls the rose gently between his fingers, marvelling silently both at it, and the man who still hasn’t tried to break out of his hold.

No one looked at Dex and thought to buy him flowers. Sure, he’d bought flowers plenty of times for others. But...well. It just hadn’t happened the other way around, and the swell of emotion Dex was feeling right now was as terrifying as it was comforting.

“It’s beautiful, thank you.” Dex murmurs after a long moment, twisting enough to press a kiss to the corner of Nate’s lips, grinning widely when he twists to try to catch him completely. But, he was not going to let this devolve in the hallway. He liked to think that, while he may not be the classiest guy (by a longshot), he had _some_ standards.

He steps back, intending to pull Nate into the apartment with him, only to pause, frowning and glancing back at the kitchen for a moment, wracking his brain.

“...Dex?” Nate asks after the silence drags on a little too long.

“...I don’t have a vase for this.” Or even a glass tall enough. Wait, what time was it? A quick glance at the clock and then he’s slipping around Nate still standing in the doorway. “Wait here.”

He knocks lightly on the door catty-corner to his own apartment - loud enough to get attention if she’s awake, but not loud enough to wake her if she’s not. The woman had a worse sleep schedule than he did, but he wouldn’t begrudge her what sleep she could get.

She opened the door a mere moment later, raising a thin eyebrow at him over gold-rimmed reading glasses.

“Declan? What is it dear?”

“Hi Mrs. Carsen. I have kind of a weird favor to ask…” That eyebrow just keeps getting higher. If Dex hadn’t lived next to the tiny old woman for the last five years, he’d think he was being judged, severely. And, he was, in a way. But the woman was all heart once you got past the looks that could cut a man. Instead of explaining, he holds up the flower. “I have nowhere to put this...if I could borrow a vase for a bit…?” he asks, not even bothering to try to stop her when she leans out enough to take a look down the hallway.

Nate, bless him, just smiles charmingly and waves.

The next thing he knows, he’s being smacked on the arm with a surprisingly strong hand. “‘Bout damn time.” she grumbles before disappearing back into her apartment. There’s a strangled sound from down the hall that Dex is pretty sure is a laugh, but he just rubs his arm and rolls his eyes.

She’s back a moment later with a thin, delicate looking vase. “I already like this one.” She offers with a small smile, voice dropping to try to keep it between them. Dex will give Nate this - he does pretty well at pretending not to hear.

“Yeah, I do too.” Dex replies with a soft smile - unable to help remembering a very similar conversation he had with Elidor, a couple months ago now.

“Introduce us next time, will you?”

“Sure thing, Mrs. Carsen. And thank you. Good night.”

He hears a return ‘good night’, before the door’s closing behind him.

“So. I don’t know how much of the rumor mill you heard after the carnival but it’s about to get ten times worse. She heads the largest gossip network in town.” He offers nonchalantly as he slips back around Nate, reaching out to grab him by the jacket again to pull him inside. Nate just laughs and goes with it easily, pushing the door closed behind him when Dex lets go.

“I did not hear most of it, no, but Felix did, so I’m sure to hear it all second-hand again.” And, for a wonder, he sounds rather pleased about that.

Biting down that swell of emotion currently pushing aside his heart again, Dex sets about getting the flower and vase set up. There’s a perfect place on the table by the window for it - a bright splash against the dark blue of the curtains.

He takes a long moment to just enjoy the look of it there, smiling to himself - stupidly, he knows, but...well, Nate’s the only one there to see.

He feels an arm slip around his waist as he’s pulled back against a strong chest a moment later - he’d only just heard the swish of fabric behind him a moment before. He doesn’t even pretend he doesn’t melt immediately into the grip. “You know, you’re lucky I like you.” He grumbles, even as feels more than hears the warm laugh at that.

“Oh, I am aware,” and there’s something aching there that Dex immediately wants to wipe away, but, after debating for a moment, he decides against it. Things are still so new - they have plenty of time for deep waters. Instead, he turns in Nate’s grip, arms coming up to wrap loosely around his shoulders in return. “Take it you’re staying then?” He asks instead, letting a hopeful thread twist into his voice, clear as day.

“If you will have me.” And there’s that ache again - thin and thready, and it hurts to hear it, even if he’s pretty sure he’ll hear it for a while yet.

“Mm...can’t promise anything exciting,” much as he _wants_ to, it’s just now hitting him how tired he is, standing here, wrapped up in and around Nate like this, warm and comfortable in his own home - and there’s that warm laugh again he’s already falling a little in love with, one he feels more where they’re pressed up close together than he hears - “you’re welcome here however long you’d like.” he finishes, humming softly when Nate ducks into ghost a kiss along his jaw.

In a move he doesn’t quite follow - and not entirely because he’s tired either; sometimes he just...forgets exactly how strong Nate and the others are - he finds himself on top of Nate on the couch that had been behind them.

He blinks a couple times, both down at Nate, and back at where they’d been standing before just laughing, shaking his head at Nate’s not-quite sheepish grin.

“This is only going to be comfortable for like...an hour. At most.” Dex warns, even as he settles in close, enjoying the warmth of the other man spread out under him. His own legs are butting up uncomfortably against the arm of the couch, so he can only imagine how Nate’s are doing. The couch was an old, comfy thing, but it was not designed for two six foot plus men to lay out on it. It wasn’t even designed for one, as his back liked to remind him every time he fell asleep on the damn thing.

“Mm...we’ll move in a bit.” Nate offers, fingers curling in Dex’s shirt at his back.

Dex knows for a fact he’s going to wake up in the exact same spot, but can’t find it in him to argue - way too comfortable, and enjoying the closeness way too much. If Nate wants to deal with the couch like this, that’s his choice. So, instead of arguing, he leans up enough to steal another sweet kiss - little more than a too-short slide of warm skin and breath before settling down with his cheek on Nate’s chest.

The last thing he sees before he loses the thread for the night is that rose - bright and sweet looking against the heavy navy curtains. He’s pretty sure he falls asleep with a smile and plans to buy both a vase, and a bigger couch, very soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 💛 You can find my Wayhaven nonsense [here](https://chroniclesinlacuna.tumblr.com/)


End file.
